There has been an ongoing research effort to integrate microfluidic-based systems with appropriate sensors and analytical components. An objective has been effective miniaturization of chemical and biological assays, with the creation of a lab-on-a-chip technology.
A defining attribute of microassays is small amounts of gas or liquid material required for sample reaction. This economy of scale affords the ability to test more compounds or drug candidates for a desired or undesired reaction.
In addition, microreaction technology offers efficient heat transfer and the potential for optimized mixing and safer processing—in other words, better reaction control, as well as reduced waste. Because both the sample size and the reaction quantities are so small, multiple individual assays can be run in parallel, affording more reliable results.
Such reaction systems are amenable to construction in a parallel fashion to increase throughput. Alternatively, specimens can be attached to parallel systems to allow simultaneous performance of multiple different assays.
While many companies have brought the lab-on-a-chip technology to the forefront of microelectromechanical system (MEMS) applications, these developments heretofore have failed to fully integrate the pumping and detection functions. An a result, none of these earlier efforts can achieve major advances in either miniaturization or biomedical applications.
It is not intended to unduly criticize such prior work, which is noteworthy and admirable. Nevertheless it does leave room for refinement.